CMU finishes 15th in Las Vegas; Bennett places second, Trice third in respective weight classes
Two Chippewas finished in the top four spots of their respective weight classes as Central Michigan finished 15th at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, Nev.
Sophomore Ben Bennett finished second in the 174-pound class, suffering a 6-2 decision to Cornell’s Mack Lewnes in the final match.
“Ben wrestled a good tournament, and he was very competitive in the finals against the No. 1 ranked guy in the country,” said CMU head coac Tom Borrelli.
Bennett’s only three losses this season have been against Lewnes, the first two matches coming in the schools’ dual meet and the Body Bar Invitational in November.
“I had an idea how to wrestle him, and I did an all right job, but I made a couple mistakes that came back to hurt me,” Bennett said. “I’ve just got to get back to work this week and improve on some things.”
Heavyweight Jarod Trice finished third after being seeded at the No. 1 spot at the beginning of the tournament. The junior suffered a 5-2 loss against Michigan’s Ben Apland before winning back-to-back consolation matches.
He used a 4-0 decision to move into the consolation finals, where he won a close match with a 3-2 decision.
“The best thing about those two guys, Trice and Sentes, is they both lost real tough, close matches, and though they were disappointed with their losses, they still came back and wrestled hard,” Borrelli said.
Junior Scotti Sentes took the seventh place spot in the 133–pound bracket, after an 8-3 decision against Jose Mendoza (Cal State-Bakersfield), improving to 4-2 at the tournament.
Scott Mattingly advanced to day two, but failed to finish in the top eight of the weight class.
Cornell (140) reminded the country why they’re ranked No. 1, finishing first in the tournament. Wisconsin (101.5) and Boise State (101) followed in second and third respectively.
“I think it was a great tournament, with nine of the top 15 ranked teams there,” Borrelli said. “It was a great chance for our young guys to compete in that level of competition, though in some ways we’ve got to get better.”
